How Do I Feel
by WhattaRiot xD
Summary: Freshman year is on the agenda for the newly Polk graduates, but all Suzie Crabgrass is concerned with is figuring out where she stands with Ned and Moze.  When Moze misinterprets Suzie's feelings, this new school year is about to talk a wild turn.
1. Back to School Shopping

The Typical Disclaimer that Must Be Put in Every FanFiction: I don't own Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.

Hello fellow readers and writers! This story takes place after the "Field Trip" episode, although that is pretty obvious if you read through this :D. I didn't really like how Field Trip wrapped up everything so things established in that episode will change and be explained. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but, hey, maybe this will give _you _inspiration for your own fanfiction .

Summary: Freshman year is on the agenda for the newly Polk graduates, but all Suzie Crabgrass is concerned with is figuring out where she stands with Ned and Moze. When Moze misinterprets Suzie's feelings, this new school year is about to talk a wild turn.

**

* * *

Chapter One: Back-to-School Shopping**

"Oh my god, can you believe it? In five sweet short days, we're going to be freshman! We're going to be in high school! We're finally going to be among older teenagers, holding our heads up high on our own! This is so incredibly exciting; I don't know how I'm going to wait a few more days!"

An agreeable murmur of cliquish proportions broke out into giggles and glee around their fellow leader Missy Meanie as the group of five or six girls flipped through clothes racks at an incredibly fast rate, needing only a few seconds to determine if the shirt or jeans would be deemed "in" or "out" by their fellow classmates in a few short days, when school would reopen for a new year. This wouldn't be just any old school year, though. For these girls - and hundreds of other bubbling fourteen-year-olds - this year would be their newbie year of high school, the beginning of the best or worse years of your life. Missy Meanie - and therefore her group of loyal followers - took this as a joyous occasion instead of grumbling over going back to school, like the lonely brunette eying the gossiping group from a so-so distance.

"Well, girls, I think I'm set. How about you?" Missy's cheery voice broke the mini conversations among the girls, and the latter all shook their heads as they held their about-to-be purchased attire tight in their hands, as if they were afraid someone would pop out of no where and snatch their fashionable tank tops and denim jeans. Missy's face broke out in a triumphant grin of victory and began to march out of the clothing display and to the nearest register. Meanwhile, the brunette girl peeked her head out from behind a jeans display and watched the girls walk on by and began to walk to the section they had previously occupied.

"Do you think in these clothes _he'll_ notice me?" Missy seemed to lack an indoor voice, or at least one that was reserved for private conversation, for the petite brown eyed girl could hear quite loudly and clearly - and she was sure the rest of the store could too.

"Oh, definitely, Missy, how could he not?" a follower replied eagerly, and the rest of the group voiced a giggly, "Oh, yeah!" Apparently, "he" didn't need a name to be identified to the group; Missy probably talked about her dream guy non-stop to the point no one had to even guess who she was talking about.

"Hey, Missy, when did you stop liking Ned Bigby?" one of the girls asked, and Missy let out a loudly chuckle.

"Oh, a few months ago! I don't know what I was thinking anyway; I could do so much better than Ned," Missy reasoned, making up lies and excuses to ease her pain of not being chosen as Ned Bigby's girlfriend.

"What ever happened to him, anyway?" another crony asked in a somber tone, as if they were discussing someone who had passed away.

"Eh, Suzie Crabgrass moved back, and he dated her for like three days until he conveniently forget to tell her he dumped her. Why? So he could start dating Jennifer Mosely!" An enormous cackle rose from the group, as if Missy had just delievered the perfect punchline to an incredibly humorous joke. After this slight pause, Missy continued on with her opinion. "I don't know whether to feel bad for Suzie for being dumped in such a manner, or to laugh at how pathetic she is for being dumped after three days - and for Mosely, of all people!"

As if it was on cue, the group gave their mandatory snickering and giggling to stay on Missy Meanie's good side, even if it meant hurting someone's feelings at their expense - and if their target was in hearing distance. The petite brunette girl, who had finally managed to walk herself over to the clothing display, fought back the desire to cry herself a pity party and walk up and punch Missy in the face as hard as she could. Instead, Suzie Crabgrass sighed to herself as she watched Missy and her group walk out of sight and hearing distance and began to whisk herself through the hangers, taking her frustration out in her head.

She remembered how it had only been a few years ago that she had been part of Missy's assembly, where she was only concerned about the minor things in life that consumed many students nowadays: popularity, reputation, and relationships. Now she had come a ways, down the road of learning and experience. During the past year and a half, Suzie figured out who her true friends were and the ones she used to climb the social ladder (Missy didn't make the cut), popularity and reputation weren't built on simple things and destroyed by complicated ones (doing the lunch program didn't make her uncool; acting like she was better than it did), and the best way to enjoy yourself was to have fun with life. Considering it all, Suzie should have felt proud of the road she went down and how she grew into a better person by the end of it.

Of course, she would have if there hadn't been the little incident that threw her whole world off course, leaving her unsure of herself and everyone else.

Suzie flipped through the clothes racks, picking out the occasional shirt or top she found cute and laced it over her arm. Her mom had sent her out to do her back-to-school shopping, though she was hoping Suzie would go with someone else to keep her company as she had noticed her daughter's change of moods lately. Suzie brushed it off, saying that moving back and forth between the last few months left her with poorly built friendships at one school and broken ones at another.

"What about your friend Jennifer Mosely back at Polk? You two were really close by the end of seventh grade," her mom suggested.

"Jennifer's been busy, and we haven't had a chance to talk then," Suzie informed her mother, although it was at best a half-truth/half-lie. Since summer had began, Suzie and Jennifer never did talk on the phone for hours or email/IM each other back and forth like they used to after the one-time rivals discovered that they made better friends than enemies toward the middle half of seventh grade. However, it was never because Jennifer made an attempt to reconcile; actually, there were about ten messages on Suzie's cell phone and fifteen read-but-never-replied-to emails in her inbox - all from Jennifer, with each basically saying, "Hey, I miss you! Call/write back?" Suzie never did - she either hung up or signed off with a sigh.

"What about that nice boy that you were always hanging around - Ned, I think it was?" her mom then countered.

"I don't know, I think he's on vacation," Suzie simply shrugged, not bothering to tell her mother the full truth. It was again like Jennifer - ever since the last day of school, Ned and Suzie had not bothered to talk to each other, not because they didn't want to but because they didn't know how to react around each other. Neither had made an attempt to contact the other one, and Suzie was perfectly fine with the situation, mostly because she couldn't figure out how she felt toward him.

After scourging through various piles and racks, Suzie had a decent pile of clothing to her name and figured that would be enough to get her through the school year, or at least the first half. She decided to follow Missy's tracks in order to find the closest register, and afterwards planned hit another store to pick up the basic school necessities: pen, pencils, notebooks, etc. She would get it all done today, even though there was no need to. Her calendar was literally begging to have something on it's agenda, but Suzie preferred the days to herself currently.

"Suzie? Suzie Crabgrass?"

Freezing in her tracks, Suzie shuddered a bit, leaning back and forth in her place. She knew that voice all-too well, the voice that would be the simple-yet-envious girl-next-door glee if personified. She wasn't sure if she liked or hated it now, but Suzie knew she didn't want to deal with it.

"Hey Jennifer," Suzie answered unusually sweet as she turned around to face the tall, athletic brown-eyed Jennifer Mosely, covering up any growing detestation or current confusion Suzie had in her mind. Jennifer then eased from the "Hurry-up-and-catch-her-before-she-leaves" attitude and into the typical relief mode, walking carefully as if she was timing each step. Suzie noted that Jennifer was dressed in her usual attire - jeans and a t-shirt - but this time her shirt was the graduation one the eight graders had recieved as a token of congraluations from James K. Polk Middle School around the last week. Like most kids, Jennifer had allowed hers to be covered in Sharpied and markered messages from her friends, ranging from the serious to the silly. Suzie saw hers crawled across the front, right below the nearlty printed "2007 graduate" statement.

"Wow, funny running into you here! Shopping for new clothes? My mom dropped me off with the same mission. She didn't want to be subjected to my groaning and disgust at the pant sizes. Wanna join me? I would love if you do!" Jennifer had always had an extremely sweet and caring nature, and today her offering felt like it was laced in pure sugar as she bore a welcoming smile, putting her hands in her pockets and rocking slightly back and forth.

"Oh, I'd love too, I just finished!" Suzie quickly answered, holding up a pile of various articles of clothing. It seemed lately Suzie was aiming to major in a field of telling half-truths/half-lies. She had conquered this store but had still planned on hitting various other ones, as would Jennifer, Suzie suspected. "So thanks, but no thanks. I'm just gonna go check out now-"

"Suzie," Jennifer interrupted softly, holding her arm out as though she was going to reach out and hold her best friend in place. "I've been trying to get in contact with you all summer. actually. Have you gotten any of my messages?"

_Yes, and I didn't feel like answering any of them_. "No, I've just been extremely busy, running around and stuff. You know me, Jennifer, I would have gotten right back to you," Suzie replied with a chirp, relying on her past experiences to help bail her out of trouble.

"Oh, I know, I was just wondering if everything was okay."

_Maybe_. "Of course, why wouldn't it be?"

"Oh, well, you know, I was wondering if you were mad at...Ned and I for...well, you know...," Jennifer trailed off, and her glance lowered with each passing second, to the point where her head was almost completely downwards with her staring at the ground.

_Yeah, for stealing - no, no, no! Jennifer did not steal my boyfriend! Ned was practically hers from the get-go away! Gah! So why am I getting so angry, anyway?_ "No, no, no. I understand completely. Really. I do," Suzie sympathized, biting her lip as she knew each word was building a perfectly aligned delicate lie.

Jennifer seemed to ease up slightly and gently smiled at Suzie. "Great. So everything is clear between us?"

_I don't know_. "Crystal!"

"And we're still friends?"

_Sure, let's just say that_. "Always have been!"

"Awesome," Jennifer concluded with a quiet giggle. "So, are you sure you're completely done? We have a lot of catching up to do, and I'm all by myself here at the mall. Maybe we could finish our shopping together? I mean, if you want to anyway. It's just that, well, you know, Cookie and Ned have always been my two best friends, and they're boys so there is no way they understand more than half the stuff I want to talk about. That's when I realized I missed you, and I do want my best friend back..."

Suzie froze in her tracks, trying not to let a single emotion drip into her face. She had literally pigeonholed herself into a problem that she could not quickly mend. She had just assured Jennifer that they was no bad blood between them, that she had not been purposely avoiding her and ignoring her messages, and they had always been best friends. Making up any excuse would probably seem out-of-the-blue, forced, or convenient on Suzie's behalf, which would probably lead Jennifer to doubt Suzie's little lying speech.

But why was she even worrying? For all of the emotional drama going on in Suzie's head, she did miss her best friend too. They both reached out to each other for different reasons - Jennifer, because she had spent her life building best friend relationships with boys and needed someone to relate to her girl issues; Suzie, because she had spent her life putting true friendships aside to excel in practically everything life had to offer. And since they were each other's first "real" best girl friend, it began a weirdly matched friendship as the once-competing rivals tried to learn basic girl-relationship steps at the age of thirteen. However, maybe that's why it worked out so well for the two girls, as then Jennifer and Suzie spent the next year and a half acting as if they had been best friends all of their life instead of newly scripted ones. It was the classic best friend forever detail: movies on weekends, spilling secrets until dawn, shopping while giving critiques on their weekly visit to the mall, etc. Even with Suzie moving for a while in eight grade didn't totally break up the friendship - a sign that everything would be fine, right?

It was pretty common knowledge that Jennifer's best friend Ned Bigby had a school-long crush on Suzie as well; more people knew that their time tables. Suzie noted the affection but didn't bother to return it romantically. She had always been interested in the local cute boys (Seth Powers) or the wild ones (Billy Loomer) and thought of Ned of as a good friend, the boy-next-door, if you will - never dating material. Until she had been burned by each relationship for various reasons, Suzie then began to look at dating in a whole new light. What was missing? She wanted a kind, sweet boy who made her laugh and feel on top of the world, one that she could trust and feel secure with. Seth was too consumed with his love of basketball to notice anyone else, and Loomer refused to give up his bullying ways and cheated on Suzie with Missy for a free pool. Ned? Ned was the one who picked her up after Seth chose his basketball at the school dance and the one who tried to tell her about Loomer's wandering ways. Ned had always been there, for better or for worse, and he definitely was that guy Suzie was looking for. After a few piercings and whatnot, Suzie gathered up her courage and asked Ned out, and to her relief he said yes.

Still, it was pretty apparent to everyone - except the two involved - that Jennifer had a crush on her best friend, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Ned returned the feeling. The Suzie and Ned relationship wasn't stable at all; Ned was either panicking he would lose Suzie to another guy, or Suzie was worried over some of Ned's embarrassing behavior. So was it any surprise that when Suzie moved away that seeds of romance were beginning to be planted between Moze and Ned? Most best friends would call it  
"boyfriend stealing," but Suzie didn't exactly have that inclination. Naturally, when Ned did dump her by asking out Jennifer, Suzie immediately laid the blame on him, calling him the "worst boyfriend ever!" After a few days of solitude, Suzie slowly began to look at herself. She hadn't been the perfect girlfriend either, nor could she ever pretend that she had been. She had been too impatient, too pushy, too judgmental, too picky, too embarrassed, too misunderstanding. With a girlfriend like that at their side, who wouldn't run off to the comforting best friend? Perhaps Suzie had held too high expectations for Ned. She thought he would be the perfect boyfriend and was in dismay when he failed to live up to it, not realizing that no one could ever reach the highest level of perfection.

With Jennifer, most girls would be eager to yell at their best friend, "You stole my boyfriend!" Suzie knew better. Jennifer didn't steal Ned at all; Suzie practically handed him over, forced him into Jennifer's open arms, and Suzie was perfectly aware of that. Maybe she was a bit angry that appeared Jennifer waltzed in and grabbed Ned swiftly away from her corner, but most of her emotion stemmed from when Suzie remembered Ned and Moze sneaking smiles throughout the remainder of the school year or pictured them hanging out in various spots holding each others' hands. Was she jealous? Probably, but she couldn't tell why. Was she jealous because the Ned-and-Moze relationship seemed like such a fairytale engulfed in a never-ending flow of happiness, something Suzie always dreamed about but was too out of reach? The other side would be was Suzie was jealous of Moze's boyfriend being Ned, and this Suzie kept firmly denied to herself for no apparent reason.

Suzie glanced up at Jennifer, who was potentially waiting for an answer. She didn't hate Jennifer at all, Suzie believed; when it came to her best friend, Suzie was just overwhelmed. She was jealous of her best friend's relationship, plain and simple, though Suzie didn't want to give it much thought over why nor did she ever want to explore that aspect.

"Sure," Suzie meekly agreed, forcing a smile onto her face. What was she getting herself into?

"Great! I have to look around here first, if you don't mind..."

* * *

Aha, if you guys like this story, I shall continue on with it. So please read and review! I'll love you forever, I promise xD


	2. The First Day

The Typical Disclaimer that Must Be Put in Every FanFiction: I don't own Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.

I apologize for the late update, but I have been on vacation for the past week and haven't had a chance to update. From now on, updates will be more consistant

And thank you for the reviews.

Summary: Freshman year is on the agenda for the newly Polk graduates, but all Suzie Crabgrass is concerned with is figuring out where she stands with Ned and Moze. When Moze misinterprets Suzie's feelings, this new school year is about to talk a wild turn.

* * *

**Chapter Two: The First Day**

Aside from the yearly trip to the dentist or moving to a completely new town, it was safe to say that the first day of school was probably the least-looked forward day in one's life, and this was no exception for Suzie Crabgrass as she sat in the back of her mom's car, counting down the moments until her world would be turned upside down again. Sure, she hated how she spent the majority of her summer by herself either locked up in her room or roaming around the neighborhood and wanted some social interaction, despite telling her mom she was quite content with her solitude. On the other hand, Suzie was uneasy about a handful of other things, with it all stemming back to the Huffington Gardens field trip last year. Of course, she still felt uneasy around Jennifer and pleaded with fate not to let her run into Ned, but Suzie also was a bit nervous after overhearing Missy Meanie's gabfest that her getting-dumped-by-Ned-for-Moze situation would be among the burning topics around the social table. Suzie kept reminding herself, "_And if they do? Who cares? It's not going to affect me_," but - as we all know - thinking along those lines was easier said that done. 

"Mom, can we hurry up here? I actually want to be on time to my first class, you know," Suzie sat up straight and shouted to the teary-eyed woman in the driver's seat, who was in a desperate need of a tissue. The butterflies had announced their welcome as soon as her alarm clock buzzed at seven this morning, and it felt like they were multiplying by the second. However, that didn't mean that Suzie wanted to stick out like a sore thumb by showing up incredibly late to her classes. She was walking on a very fine line emotion-wise.

"I know, I know, dear. But, I can't believe it...my youngest daughter...going to be a freshman in a few minutes...oh, you grow up so fast!"

Mrs. Crabgrass gripped the steering wheel with such incredibly force that Suzie swore her hands were turning a creamy white, and her mother let out an incredible sob. She had been like this ever since the eight grade graduation, where Suzie had learned through listening to her mom's various breakdown and crying spells over the past three months that Suzie's induction into high school was not one Mrs. Crabgrass had been looking forward to at all. Not only did this mean her children where growing up so fast to the point where she could hold them in her arms seemed like ages ago, now this meant Mrs. Crabgrass would be officially old. The horror.

Of course, one must face these dreaded occurrences in their live no matter what the feeling, and Suzie's father had convinced his wife that her best plan of attack was to personally drop Suzie off at school, much to the displeasure of their daughter. Officially Suzie's reason was not riding the bus would limit her time getting reacquainted with old Polk faces and trying to forge new friendships, and this was true to a point. In reality, Suzie's nerves where shattered and did not want to hear any more sob stories. She had no choice in the matter, as her dad nearly carried her out to their brilliant crimson colored convertible and carefully eyed Suzie as she buckled herself in.

And now we arrive at today's scheduled programming. "Mom, if you can't handle it, I could just walk the rest of the way-"

"No, no, no, dear, I got this under control," Mrs. Crabgrass assured. smiling into the rearview mirror in hopes of tricking her daughter into a false comfort. All Suzie could see, though, was the huge celebrity-crazed-inspired black sunglasses that hid most of her mother's face.

"_She looks like a bug-eyed Martian_," Suzie giggled to herself, perking up just a slight smidge.

The rest of the car ride was filled with a surplus of silence, save for the occasional moment of sniffles and wails Mrs. Crabgrass tried to cover up every other minute. Suzie spent the remainder of her time drawing various shapes and words on the window with her index finger. She hadn't noticed that most of the invisible art revolved around her current situation - like a frowning face with medium-length wavy hair and various words like "gah" and "imperfect."

I'm going for the stereotypical Myspace photography wonder. Suzie smiled to herself as she leaned back in her seat and laid her arms on her newly purchased white slowing skirt. Suzie pinched the skirt and rubbed the fabric gently against her skin, as if this was part of a soothing therapy session. She had bought this skirt on the day she had run into Jennifer at the mall. After Suzie had nervously agreed to join Jennifer on her back-to-school shopping spree, Jennifer must have decided mentally that she would force Suzie to make up for their lost summer days. It seemed that Jennifer dragged Suzie all over the mall to nearly every store - even the unnecessary ones that provided little help or entertainment. Suzie took a wild guess that Jennifer was not in dire need of vitamin C supplements, even though the latter swore the statement up and down as Jennifer dragged Suzie into Vitamin World. Maybe it was because the idea sounded close to a far-fetched theory or that Jennifer didn't even bother to purchase any or even glance over the multiple brands of vitamin C at the back of the store.

And the talking! If Suzie had a radar gun, she was sure Jennifer's talking rate would be climbing off the charts and her "words-per-minute" would be at least five hundred if not higher. If anything, she sounded like a female relative of Martin Qwerly, which could never be defined as a positive trait. If it entered Jennifer's mind, it came out her mouth as she desperately tried to inform Suzie of everything that had happened in the past three months. Some of it was relevant - Jennifer went on vacation to Seattle during the third week of July - and other times Suzie nearly fell asleep listening to Jennifer - like how she reorganized her sock drawer successfully a week before.

"And when I was emptying my sock drawer to start, I finally found that volleyball uniform sock I lost two years ago!" Jennifer exclaimed, her face glowing with triumph as she was literally pulling Suzie toward a school supplies store.

"Mhmm, I think you all ready told me this. Twice," Suzie recalled monotonously between sips from the chocolate milkshake she had bought a few minutes ago; really she had used it as an excuse to stand in line by herself and drown in the silence of her own mind without having the unwanted gift of gab around her. Frankly, Suzie wanted to rewrap it and give it to someone else far away.

"Oops, sorry," Jennifer blushed, her cheeks flushing a rosy red. The last thing she wanted was to find herself on Suzie Crabgrass's Bad List and lose her best friend...again. "Did I tell you about the time I was walking toward my pool and I slipped on the rail and literally did a somersault into the deep end?"

"_Slllurrppp!_...Sounds familiar," Suzie figured, tapping her fingers against her paper cup.

"How about when my grandma and I -"

"-went to the mall and found that cute black top marked half-off?"

"Dang." Jennifer rubbed the back of her head in amazement and embarrassment. "Guess I've been chatting up a storm, huh?"

"Eh, maybe a bit," Suzie smiled sweetly. She had a way of covering up a web of lies.

"Well, I'll shut myself up now," Jennifer promised, pulling an imaginary zipper across her lips, tossed the invisible key over her shoulder, and brushed her hands over her chest. "What about you? What has been going on in the Suzie Crabgrass Summer 'O Fun?"

Suzie laughed bitterly and shook her head slightly. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"Oh, c'mon now. Something? Anything?"

"Noth-thing," Suzie emphasized, gripping her milkshake cup firmly now. "Not as exciting as yours has been, anyway."

She had meant that retort to be coated in sarcasm, but either Suzie had failed at her job or the remark flew over Jennifer's head, for the big brown-eyed beauty broke into a shining smile. Suzie could sense a pot of bubbling excitement brewing from inside Jennifer and mentally slapped her forehead.

"Really? I mean, because it wasn't that great. I mean, most of it was fun. Like that one time where we went to Seattle and -"

It boiled over, and here was Suzie Crabgrass once again, sinking in an overload of information and couldn't find a life jacket or a rescue team until her mom called Suzie's cell phone and informed her daughter that she had been out too long. Still, Suzie couldn't figure out what broke her eardrums that day: her mother's shirking exclamation of glee when she pulled her convertible up to the main entrance/exit of the mall and spotted her daughter interacting with actual people, or Jennifer's many various instructions (i.e- "Call me at seven tonight! IM me if you can't!") as she jumped up and down while waving frantically as the call pulled away, with Suzie slinking slowly in the front seat.

It would have turned out all Jennifer wanted to talk about was today...or at least the first day of school. Jennifer made Suzie swear repeatedly (if they were a few years younger, the phrases "cross my heart and hope to die/stick a needle in my eye" would have probably been used) that the two would meet in front of Warren G. Harding High School on the first day to exchange schedules swap information, calm each other down, the works. Any complications had never occurred to Suzie until she had hung up the phone after the conversation ended. At first, Suzie saw no drawbacks of her promise; after all, no one in their right mind was looking forward to reentering the atmosphere of incredible stress and an overhaul of work nor could anyone pretend they had the undescrible feeling of the first day down pat. Having a support system disguised her best friend would be the perfect guide to aide her through the day.

But as Suzie was performing her night routine - a.k.a. brushing her teeth and hair while giving her skin an overkill of treatments - the horror of her soon-to-be reality hit her hard.

_What if Ned was there?_

Suzie could picture it now - walking up toward the school, with her new denim over-the-shoulder book bag hung smoothly by her side. With each step her heart rate rose slightly as she could literally hear the pounding rhythm echo in her ears. In sight slowly appeared a joyous Jennifer Mosely, her shoulder length hair flowing in this movie-like scenario. Suddenly, though, here comes sweet Ned Bigby, waltzing into the picture, grabbing Jennifer's arm in order to pull her face inches away from his. And just as his lips begin to graze his girlfiend's, out of the corner of his eye Ned spots a blushing and trembling Suzie Crabgrass-

Rushing back to reality, Suzie jumped in her seat and bit her quivering lower lip in frustration and anxiety. She had survive red her first encounter with Jennifer, but the circumstances were by far different. Jennifer was her best friend who just so happened to start dating Ned at the end of the eight grade Ned was her ex-boyfriend who didn't bother to inform Suzie on their break-up, relying on the grape line to fill Suzie on the news. How exactly do you act around someone with a history like that, let alone say?

"Suzie, darling, we're here..."

The fourteen-year-old girl looked up to see her mom tinkering on the verge of a nervous breakdown as the latter began murmuring therapeutic sayings out loud to herself. Suzie then turned her head to her right, casting a gaze on the building her future for the next four years.

Warden G. Harding High School stood a magnificent three stories high and had a decent width measurement. To the normal pedestrian, the school looked gigantic and rightly so - after all, four or five different school districts sent their eight grade graduates here to complete their mandatory education. According to Suzie's two older sisters, though, the school was less imitating inside since each of the four grades were more or less separated into sections by year, though Suzie chose to hold judgment until she stepped inside.

"Mmkay, Mom, I'm gonna get out now-"

A huge moan erupted from the driver's seat. "Oh, Suzie, can I give you a hug before you leave?"

"Mommmm!" Suzie spat out with pure disgust, her face contorting to a gaping look of embarrassment. Not only did hugging you mother at school end in the first grade, acknowledging any parent now was an unthinkable crime in Teenaged World.

Besides, Suzie was terribly afraid if she did give in, her mom would never let her go at all.

"I know it seems 'uncool', Suzie, but it would really help me. Besides, hardly anyone is here!"

Unfortunately, Mrs. Crabgrass was correct. There was a trio of giggling, gossipy girls about every ten feet or so, and a handful of people were headed into the school without paying much attention to their environment. Suzie figured that the buses full to the brim of bustling students hadn't yet arrived yet.

"Oh, all right," Suzie groaned, giving into her mom's demands as the former unbuckled her seat belt. Mrs. Crabgrass clapped her hands in triumph as Suzie stepped out of the car and shut the door. "No crying all over me, okay? I don't want my make-up ruined."

Mrs. Crabgrass nodded her head and opened her arms as wide as the open road. Suzie rolled her eyes, and it felt as the world moved with her heavy annoyance as Suzie leaned over the car door and embraced her mother softly. As embarrassing as she felt, Suzie drifted back to the earlier days of life where the biggest worry of life was what kind of jelly her mom put on her sandwich. Boys still were disgusting creatures and were swarming with cooties, and the most complicated homework assignment was coloring within the lines. Suzie knew no matter how tightly she held her mom or her eyes shut she wouldn't be transported back to happier, simpler times or escape her web of current complications, but it was a piece of history to bring a smile to Suzie's face for the time-being.

After a few seconds, Suzie pulled back and waved farewell to her mother, clutching on to her book bag hanging from her left shoulder. Suzie marched in front of the car and onto the grounds of the high school, ignoring her mother's last wails. Suzie Crabgrass was on the tip-toes of a new chapter of her life.

As tempted as she was to whip out her schedule and stride right into the school to find her locker, Suzie's conscience repeated her promise to Jennifer while her worrywart played the dreaded imaginary scene involving a romantic Ned and Jennifer in her head over and over again. It was an unpleasant cycle of mental torture that touched on all of Suzie's emotions. When reminded of her promise, Suzie was eager to participate in social interaction and actually talk and express herself to someone, despite the impression she had given her mother the summer before. Suzie found herself cringing when she pictured herself meeting up with Ned for the first time since the end of eight grade. Now a wave of anger boiled toward herself - what was Suzie Crabgrass now? A wimp? A baby? A pathetic, worthless, abnormal creature for fearing something that had a possibility of being trivial? Suzie knew she was afraid, plain and simple, and she hated that with a passion. Didn't she pride herself on being a strong, confident, teenaged girl; someone secure in her opinions and beliefs and wore a protective shield to have hurtful sayings and situations bounce right off her? That person obviously vanished the day eight grade ended, leaving Suzie to transform into someone she despised.

"_This situation could unnerve anyone, you know_," one voice in sang in Suzie's head.

"_It's not supposed to unnerve me!_" another one declared.

"_Pssh, who or what do you think you are? You're human, not perfect!_"

"_I know, but still..._"

Lost in her world of thoughts, Suzie barely registered the fact a handful of buses pulled in front of the school and opened the door, welcoming a new flood of students to the grounds. Most of them hopped out of the bus and ran toward their friends, resulting in hugging, nodding, mile-wide grins, and high-fiving. One person in particular walked off the stairs carefully and proceeded to look around the luscious school grounds, which seemed to stretch around for miles and miles to come. When she had finally spotted her target leaning against a tree positioned by the main school entrance stairs, she squealed in delight and quickened her pace.

"Suzie!" Jennifer Mosely shouted quite brashly, and Suzie awoke from her nightmare of confusion to look up and spot her best friend running toward her. Suzie straightened her posture and erupted into a big dazzling grin.

"Hey Jennifer! Great to see you," Suzie greeted warmly as Jennifer joined the fromer underneath the shade of the tree.

"Ditto! God, those high school buses are positively awful," Jennifer moaned as she dropped her backpack from her shoulders onto the grass. "The driver was nervous about getting lost or screwing up the route so she showed up ten minutes early. Ned wasn't even awake then! I called him from the bus, and he started snapping at me that I woke him up."

To Jennifer, Suzie started grinning out of amusement but in reality it was a sigh of relief. She could put off her future meeting with Ned for now.

"So now he had to beg his mom to drive him to school┘though I know you said your mom had to drive you today," Jennifer covered up smoothly as she rummaged through her bag, not looking up to meet Suzie's gaze. "How was that, by the way?"

"Best as it could have been," Suzie shrugged off.

"Here it is!" Jennifer exclaimed as she pulled out a white piece of paper from her backpack. "C'mon, Suzie, give me your schedule so I can compare them."

Suzie nodded politely and flipped the cover of her book bag over. She pulled her schedule from between two notebooks and handed it to Jennifer, who held the two next to each other and squinted her eyes in concentration.

"Let's see, let's see," Jennifer clicked her tongue and paused for a few moments as she examined the two documents. With each passing second, Jennifer's frow burrowed and grew visibly more frustrated.

"We have nothing together!" Jennifer groaned as she handed the two schedules over to Suzie, in hopes the latter would find a mistake and gently correct with a, "no, no, no, look here..." Instead Suzie glanced down at the two and scanned over the printed words. No regular classes like English or biology, no extracurricular classes, no P.E. or lunch, nothing. The two schedules were completely different without a link or connection.

Suzie handed Jennifer's schedule back to the original owner and shook her head; Jennifer grabbed hers back and shrugged in disappointment.

"Eh, typical," Jennifer sighed as she folded up her schedule and stuffed it in her worn jeans pocket. "Last year we had like everything together. Now? We'll be lucky if we bump into each other in the halls."

"You forgot one thing," Suzie sang softly.

"What?" Suzie extended her arms as long as she could and collected her fists together. Lacing her thumbs on top of each other, Suzie began pumping her arms up and down, bouncing slightly on each knee while producing light airy sounds to add to her presentation. As Jennifer began to giggle, Suzie jumped up as high as she could lift herself and spiked the air. Suzie thrust her hands above her head as she landed back on ground and paraded around their small area.

"Woo-hoo, Suzie Crabgrass has just scored the winning point to propel the Tigers to the state championship! Ain't she amazing?"

"Okay, okay, you got me there," Jennifer laughed as she high-fived Suzie as the latter finished with her imaginary celebration circus. "We'll still have volleyball practice together...if we make the freshman team, anyway-"

"If we make it?" Suzie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest tightly, as if she was completely disgusted at the very thought Jennifer proposed. "Co-captains of the reigning state champion James K. Polk team? Oh yeah, we'll get rejected in the first round, hands down. Or, better yet, they refuse to let us into the gymnasium where they're holding the tryouts."

Jennifer giggled faintly as she nodded her head in agreement. "Oh, Suzie, I know you're right, but, c'mon! We're going into high school! Who exactly isn't shaking in their boots right now or who has a clean and secure idea of what they're doing right now?"

Suzie's nodded in agreement, her gorgeous naturally straightened dark chocolate hair bouncing up and down. She was about to tell her best friend of Missy Meanie's overblown confidence party at the mall when Jennifer started waving vigorously at her. Suzie raised her eyebrows and began to wave back slowly, completely dumbfounded by Jennifer.s actions. It wasn't until Jennifer called out excitedly, "Hey hey, over here!" until it dawned on Suzie that her company was greeting someone else and decided to look around, blushing ever so slightly at her idiocy. As soon as she spotted Jennifer's target, though, her cheeks transformed into a brilliant bright crimson.

Dragging his backpack with him, Ned Bigby was walking right toward his girlfriend...and his ex-girlfriend as well.


End file.
